Readers' Forum
“Who can one blame?”
In her letter "Who can one blame?” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, September 21, 2016), Mehroo Kharegat laments that we have not been able to impart the teachings of our faith to the younger generation. She is also afraid that as a community we have lulled ourselves into a state of torpor for far too long and have reached "a stage of no return.” I don’t think such despondency is warranted yet, for we can, given the will, still stem and even reverse the decline. Like-minded community members should get together informally and take a dispassionate look at our community’s present situation in this particular context so that they may chart out a corrective course of action.
We need to examine the role of our priesthood in bringing about the desired change. The average age of our priests must be 60+, with very few youngsters entering the profession. Monetary incentives and perquisites are easy to offer, but they alone are not sufficient to attract younger men to the profession. We need to instill a sense of pride in the priesthood, give the priest the dignity and respect he justly deserves, and radically change our own mindset about the priesthood being the profession of last resort. The priest should never be made to feel he is depending on our largesse.
I refer here to practicing priests, not the young men who in their preteens take on the title of ervad merely to fulfill the expectation of, and assert the family’s perceived right to don the white pugree by virtue of belonging to the athornan class, and who have no intention of serving the community. Even among practicing younger priests, it is a part-time vocation for most. They are employed elsewhere and have little motivation to dedicate themselves to full-time community guidance.
For practicing priests, the only further training they receive from their seniors is that of the mechanical execution of rituals. Without wanting to denigrate the importance of performing rituals properly and effectively, I must assert there is more to being a priest than that. The young men have little opportunity to understand and interpret our scriptures and apply them to guide the laity on even non-contentious issues.
Christian priests undergo years of training in their vocation so that they can bring the Bible to relate to and throw light upon any issue. The average Zoroastrian priest, owing to lack of adequate training and exposure, is often hard pressed to offer any view other than mouthing some "safe,” non-contradictory platitudes.
Even the term panthaky is a misnomer; for apart from days when memorial ceremonies are conducted for the departed, he maintains hardly any contact with the families in his panthak. Nor do families ever take the trouble to establish any rapport with him. The Christian priest, on the other hand, serves his community by having his finger continually on the pulse of every family in his parish; and they in turn trust him to guide them through their travails, pray with them and care for them.
We must correct this situation by devising a course of study in consultation with our head priests to be imparted to the younger ones to better equip them to apply our scriptures to real life issues. We must encourage priests to stay closer in touch with families of their panthak and the latter to bond better with the former.
KERSHASP R. DADACHANJI
dadakr@gmail.com
We need to examine the role of our priesthood in bringing about the desired change. The average age of our priests must be 60+, with very few youngsters entering the profession. Monetary incentives and perquisites are easy to offer, but they alone are not sufficient to attract younger men to the profession. We need to instill a sense of pride in the priesthood, give the priest the dignity and respect he justly deserves, and radically change our own mindset about the priesthood being the profession of last resort. The priest should never be made to feel he is depending on our largesse.
I refer here to practicing priests, not the young men who in their preteens take on the title of ervad merely to fulfill the expectation of, and assert the family’s perceived right to don the white pugree by virtue of belonging to the athornan class, and who have no intention of serving the community. Even among practicing younger priests, it is a part-time vocation for most. They are employed elsewhere and have little motivation to dedicate themselves to full-time community guidance.
For practicing priests, the only further training they receive from their seniors is that of the mechanical execution of rituals. Without wanting to denigrate the importance of performing rituals properly and effectively, I must assert there is more to being a priest than that. The young men have little opportunity to understand and interpret our scriptures and apply them to guide the laity on even non-contentious issues.
Christian priests undergo years of training in their vocation so that they can bring the Bible to relate to and throw light upon any issue. The average Zoroastrian priest, owing to lack of adequate training and exposure, is often hard pressed to offer any view other than mouthing some "safe,” non-contradictory platitudes.
Even the term panthaky is a misnomer; for apart from days when memorial ceremonies are conducted for the departed, he maintains hardly any contact with the families in his panthak. Nor do families ever take the trouble to establish any rapport with him. The Christian priest, on the other hand, serves his community by having his finger continually on the pulse of every family in his parish; and they in turn trust him to guide them through their travails, pray with them and care for them.
We must correct this situation by devising a course of study in consultation with our head priests to be imparted to the younger ones to better equip them to apply our scriptures to real life issues. We must encourage priests to stay closer in touch with families of their panthak and the latter to bond better with the former.
KERSHASP R. DADACHANJI
dadakr@gmail.com
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